Chromohalobacter japonicus sp. nov., a moderately halophilic bacterium isolated from a Japanese salty food

A Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped, motile bacterium, designated strain 43T, was isolated from a Japanese salty food and then subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic study. Strain 43T is moderately halophilic, growing at NaCl concentrations in the range 5-25 % (w/v), with optimum growth between 7.5 and 12.5% (w/ v) NaCl. Growth occurs at temperatures from 15 to 42 *C (optimally at 28-37 °QC) and at pH 5.5-9.0 (optimally at pH 7.0-8.0). A phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons revealed that strain 43T belongs to the genus Chromohalobacter. The closest relatives were Chromohalobacter canadensis ATCC 43984T (99.3 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity), Chromohalobacter beijerinckii ATCC 19372T (99.1 %), Chromohalobacter sarecensis LV4T (98.3 %), Chromohatobacter nigrandesensis LTS-4NT (97.9 %) and Chromohalobacter marismortui ATCC 17056T (97.9%). The DNA G+C content was 62.9 mol%, which is within the range described for the genus Chromohalobacter. DNA-DNA hybridization studies between strain 43T and C. canadensis CECT 5385T and C. beijerinckii DSM 7218T showed 38 and 49% relatedness, respectively; lower DNA-DNA hybridization percentages were obtained with respect to other related Chromohalobacter species. The major fatty acids of strain 43T were C16:0, C19:0 cyclo ω8C and C12:0 3-OH. Overall, the phenotypic, genotypic and phylogenetic results demonstrated that strain 43T represents a novel species within the genus Chromohalobacter. The name Chromohalobacter japonicus sp. nov. is proposed, with strain 43T (=CECT 7219T =CCM 7416T) as the type strain.

European Comission (EC) QLK3-CT-2002-01972

Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (MEC) BIO2006-006927